‘Your Moment in Bethlehem’

Viewers receive better understanding of the first Christmas from church drama

Above L-R, Gus the donkey, Becca Hughes, Matt Fraliex and Caleb Perkins. -Carol Niswonger/Herald Ledger

So many ways to celebrate the season with Herald Ledger readers, but only so much time and page space to share the celebrations.
This past frosty weekend, First Baptist Church of Fredonia shared its talents with the community by presenting, “Your Moment in Bethlehem,” the story not only of the birth of Jesus Christ, but also the journey of a man who found his way back from the path he had chosen.
Presented in the former Fredonia schoolhouse, now known as the Life Center, groups of approximately 20 were escorted through the former classrooms for the dramatic scenes. Opening with a scene from the family room, the father is trying to watch a football game with his two little girls pleading with him to take them to the church Christmas presentation.
With the wife’s intervention, after asking the children to leave the room, an argument ensues and the father reluctantly agrees to go.
Only after his family leaves the room, does he retreat to the bookcase where he has hidden his flask.
The family then joins the tour group as the scenes unfold. From the visitation by the Angel to both Mary and Joseph, to their journey through the Bethlehem market place, where they found no room at the inn, their portrayals were flawless and moving.
The startled residents of the Bethlehem market were both incredulous and frightened of the appearance of both the Wise Men and King Herod, as all made their journey—some following the star, and some following their evil intentions.
“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.” Matthew 2:11-12.
The manger scene was made all the more touching by newly discovered local thespian — Gus, the burro—who had the sweetest disposition. (Gus so enjoyed the pampering and petting in between scenes, that when the cast took a supper break during rehearsal, they looked up to see Gus wandering down the hall, looking for them.) As the tableau at the manger scene unfolded, Gus turned his head to the mother and father who were tending their newborn son so lovingly and just held his gaze upon the family, quietly. It was a moment not to be captured on camera, for fear of startling the animal. It could not have been scripted any more dramatically.
Mother and father, with the two children alongside, departed the manger scene with the group and returned home, with the mother quickly tucking the children into bed. After a few brief kind words for her husband, she leaves him alone, and the audience watches his repentance, and the scene closes with him emptying the contents of his flask, down the sink.
April Noffsinger, wife of minister, Kyle Noffsinger, who portrayed the father, reported that approximately 60 people were involved in this year’s Christmas drama. This was the third year, and they have been rehearsing since Thanksgiving. The performance has evolved since that first year, growing larger, adding more scenes and adding touches of background music from vocalists within the church.
Other churches in the area, of course, are having their own traditional presentations and celebrations. They each, in turn, have their own unique way of telling the story, and according to one performer, “It is very difficult to know who receives more of a blessing in any number of them—the performers or the audience—no matter the denomination or the way in which the story is told.”
Dramatic presentations and theater had their earliest origins in the churches and cathedrals of Europe, as the clergy sought to tell the story in a way that the parishioners could understand, since the events began before the printing press was invented. Just as today, the productions would include the local community, with performers and artists from the young and the old, in order to involve everyone. Many of the spectacles became so popular, that they spilled into the surrounding grounds of the churches.
Those types of presentations have made it all the way to the New World and even unto the hills and valleys of western Kentucky during this holiday season, because of the creative and inspirational hard working church members who only want to share the message.What is so unusual, is that the story is the same, no matter what denomination is telling it—and not so very different from one of those presentations from so very long ago.